Crime and Punishment for the Twin Scourges of Humanity: MS-13 Gang-Bangers, Tax Planners

With several MS-13 members sentenced for their part in a shooting off Glade Drive last October and a Reston executive agreeing to plead guilty as part of a conspiracy to defraud the IRS by $240 million, we can safely say that criminal activity in Reston runs the gamut. It's like we're living in a Tom Wolfe novel, only without the delightful Tom Hanks and Wil Smith!

First, the MS-13 sentencing, which stems from last October's shooting of two men sitting outside an apartment building on Freetown Court in South Reston. The whole incident had something to do with a beef between MS-13 and the 18th Street gang, two rival gangs which apparently hew to codes as rigid and unyeiling as the DRB's.

A member of the Mara Salvatrucha street gang was sentenced to 80 years in prison and another received a 55-year term Friday for their roles in attempting to murder rival gang members in Reston.

The 80-year sentence was handed down in U.S. District Court in Alexandria to Dennis L. Gil Bernardez, 33, of Landover. He was the gunman in a series of gang-related shootings last October in a Reston park.

Jose M. Aguilar Orantes, 18, of Reston, was sentenced to 55 years for providing the firearm.

A third member of the gang also known as MS-13, Carlos B. Guzman Cruz, 25, of Richmond, was sentenced to 144 months in prison for disposing of the gun.

"This case should send a clear signal that MS-13 -- despite its strict rules against cooperating with law enforcement -- can be investigated and that would-be murderers can be brought to justice,'' said Neil H. MacBride, the U.S. attorney in Alexandria.

Meanwhile, Michael Parker, chief operating officer of Reston-based investment company TransCapital, was charged with conspiracy to defraud the IRS through some fancy tax shelter with the highly credible-sounding name of SLOTS. Gambling metaphors always work well when (allegedly) trying to circumvent tax law, right? Anyhoo, Parker has agreed to plead guilty, according to court documents.

Three local businessmen have been indicted on a charge of conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service of more than $240 million.

According to the indictment filed in federal court on Oct. 22, two of the men allegedly attempted to defraud the IRS by making several "false and misleading statements" concerning a corporate tax shelter that was implemented by them.

Daryl J. Haynor, a partner in KPMG's federal tax practice for the mid-Atlantic Area, based in Tysons Corner; and Jon Flask, a Vienna-based attorney, are both named in the suit.

"Mr. Haynor has been placed on administrative leave pending a review of the situation," said George Ledwith, a spokesman for KPMG, on Monday.

A third party, Michael Parker, who was the chief operating officer of Reston-based investment company TransCapital, has also been charged with conspiracy to defraud the IRS.

According to court documents, Parker has agreed to plead guilty to his conspiracy count.

According to the federal indictment, Flask, Haynor and Parker implemented and marketed a tax shelter named "Sale Leaseback of Tenant Improvements Strategy (SLOTS)," from 1998 through 2006.

The shelter enabled various U.S. corporations to claim tax deductions totaling more than $240 million on corporate income tax returns.

The indictment alleges that Flask, along with Haynor and Parker, misled and deceived the IRS by misrepresenting facts concerning the SLOTS tax shelter during IRS audits of companies claiming tax losses generated by the shelter in the years 2002 through 2004.

If convicted, Haynor and Flask each face up to eight years in prison and a $500,000 fine. Parker faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

No word on whether that would be in a cushy minimum-security prison with therapeutic tennis and archery and whatnot... or the kind of prison the MS-13 folks are almost certainly going to: